ISLAMABAD, Aug 3: The Supreme Court on Friday ordered immediate release of PML-N leader Makhdoom Javed Hashmi who was jailed in 2004 on treason charges. “The petitioner shall be released forthwith, if not required in any other case, subject to his furnishing bail bonds of Rs50,000 with a personal bond in the like amount to the satisfaction of the registrar of this court,” announced a three-member Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Rana Bhagwandsas and Justice Faqir Mohammad Khokhar.
The bail bonds of Javed Hashmi were later submitted before the Supreme Court Registrar.
According to Our Lahore Correspondent, Javed Hashmi is to be released from the Kot Lakhpat Jail, Lahore, on Saturday.
The bench, which took up a request to review its October 9, 2006, rejection of Mr Hashmi’s appeal against the Lahore High Court order, said the petitioner had already served his entire sentence if remissions were counted.
Javed Hashmi, who is also parliamentary leader of the PML-N, was sentenced to a consolidated jail term of 23 years in April 12, 2004, on sedition charges by Islamabad District and Sessions Judge Chaudhry Asad Raza. The sentence was to run concurrently requiring the convict to serve seven years.
However, the SC short order said his sentence stood suspended till the pendency of his appeal before the LHC, adding that the detailed reasons would be recorded later.
Soon after the announcement of the order, PML-N supporters and workers chanted slogans against President Musharraf outside the court premises. The workers were led by PML-N chairman Raja Zafarul Haq, vice-president Saranjam Khan, Zafar Ali Shah and local leaders Sardar Naseem and Chaudhry Tanveer.
Javed Hashmi was arrested on October 29, 2003, on treason charges after he had addressed a press conference against the army in the parliament cafeteria. He had distributed at the press conference an allegedly forged and fictitious letter with the GHQ monogram.
Advocate Mohammad Akram Sheikh, legal counsel for Javed Hashmi, on Friday pointed out three errors in the previous Supreme Court order warranting review and said that although the appeal of his client was pending before the Lahore High Court, yet he had served his entire sentence.
He said that even if Mr Hashmi’s appeal was dismissed by the high court, the petitioner could be brought back to the jail to serve his remaining term.
The counsel mentioned a chart presented by the superintendent jail, Lahore, in which it was stated that except mutiny, the convict had served the jail term on all counts of a total of six charges.
Citing the 1993 Salman Taseer case, Advocate Akram explained that charges of mutiny or sedition could only be proceeded against if the complaint had been lodged by the federal or the provincial governments, but here the punishment was awarded on a private complaint by one Khurshid Alam.
“Thus, the entire conviction has been vitiated,” he argued and asked why was the federal government not the complainant when allegations of inciting mutiny to overthrow the federal government were levelled against Javed Hashmi.
The counsel also cited the case of Adan A. Khawaja in which it was held that if a prisoner served half of his punishment he was entitled to suspension of the sentence.
Deputy Prosecutor-General Chaudhry Munir Sadiq did not oppose the contention of the petitioner by stating that in the peculiar circumstances of the case, Javed Hashmi had made out his case for the suspension of sentence, especially when courts had already held that appeal would be defeated in cases where the appellant remained behind bars for a total period of the sentence awarded.
Assistant Advocate-General Punjab Raja Saeed Akram and Advocate-on-Record Arshad Ali Chaudhry, however, opposed the release and contended that the petitioner did not qualify for remissions since he was involved in anti-state activity and, therefore, he had not served out his total jail term and should be released on November 2010.
